Lowe, Carlson spark Rays to a 6-4 victory over Cardinals to avoid a sweep

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Brandon Lowe hit a two-run homer and former Cardinal Dylan Carlson drove in two runs to help the Tampa Bay Rays avoid a series sweep by beating the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 on Thursday night.

Lowe has hit seven home runs, nine doubles and has 18 RBIs in his last 26 games. He has driven in a run in five consecutive games, tying a career high.

“You have to understand it's a very difficult game at times,” Lowe said. “It's a very fun game at other times. Never think you know too much or that you've got it figured out.”

Ben Rortvedt added three hits for the Rays.

Nolan Arenado drove in a run, scored twice and had three hits for St. Louis. Arenado is 12 for 30 in August with three doubles and six RBIs. Paul Goldschmidt drove in two runs for the Cardinals.

“This is a frustrating one. I feel like we played a pretty clean game,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said. "We took some really good at-bats, especially giving up two in the first and then coming right back. Sometimes baseball just happens.”

Richard Lovelady (3-4) pitched one inning for the win and Pete Fairbanks, a St. Louis native who pitched at Missouri, pitched the ninth for his 22nd save in 24 opportunities.

“I treated it like it's any other place,” Fairbanks said about pitching at Busch Stadium where he threw in high school and college. “I was thinking to myself if I'm getting in this game we've got to score five runs and then Lowe hits a pop. So, I'll take it. I think I would have been frustrated if I hadn't gotten to pitch here. So, it's nice to put an ‘S’ in the record book.”

JoJo Romero (5-2) took the loss.

Kyle Gibson pitched six innings, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk.

Shane Baz threw 4 1/3 innings giving up four runs on six hits and two walks.

The Rays scored three runs in the seventh. Yandy Díaz drove in a run with a sacrifice fly before Lowe's homer that just cleared the wall and the glove of leaping center fielder Victor Scott II.

“Every single part of me just went straight to the worse,” said Lowe, who moved into third place in Rays history with 119 career homers. “I was pretty happy when I saw the umpire signal. It all worked out.”

Tampa Bay added a run in the ninth on José Caballero's single.

Arenado and Brendan Donovan had run-scoring hits as St. Louis took a 3-2 lead in the first. Goldschmidt drove in a run with a two-out single in the third.

Carlson drove in two runs with a two-out single to right in the first.

“It definitely felt good to come through with runners in scoring position," he said. “We wanted this one.”

The Rays were 1 for 23 with runners in scoring position in the previous two games.

“That would have been a real frustrating first inning if we had not capitalized on getting runners on second and third with no outs,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “That was big hit that set a tone for us.”

TRANSACTIONS

The Rays optioned RHP Hunter Bigge to Triple-A Durham.

TRAINING ROOM

Rays: LF Josh Lowe (right knee contusion) left the game after the top of the first. He fouled a ball off his right leg before striking out. Kameron Misner, a Missouri native, replaced him. … Reinstated LHP Richard Lovelady (left forearm flexor strain) from the 15-day IL.

Cardinals: RHP Riley O’Brien (right forearm flexor strain) tossed a scoreless inning Wednesday at Triple-A Memphis. He threw 10 pitches.

UP NEXT

Rays: RHP Zack Littell (5-7, 4.06) against visiting Baltimore RHP Zach Eflin (7-7, 4.05) on Friday.

Cardinals: RHP Miles Mikolas (8-9, 5.12) against Royals RHP Michael Lorenzen (5-6, 3.69) in Kansas City on Friday.

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Tampa Bay Rays relief pitcher Pete Fairbanks throws during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

Tampa Bay Rays' Brandon Lowe, right, runs the bases after hitting a two-run home run off St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher JoJo Romero during the seventh inning of a baseball game Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

St. Louis Cardinals' Paul Goldschmidt hits an RBI single during the third inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt catches a foul ball for an out by Tampa Bay Rays' Curtis Mead during the fourth inning of a baseball game Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

St. Louis Cardinals' Masyn Winn, left, gestures toward the dugout after hitting a ground rule double during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher JoJo Romero throws during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

Tampa Bay Rays right fielder Dylan Carlson, right, catches a fly ball in front of Jonny DeLuca, left, for an out against St. Louis Cardinals' Paul Goldschmidt during the fifth inning of a baseball game Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

Tampa Bay Rays' Yandy Diaz hits a sacrifice fly during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

Tampa Bay Rays relief pitcher Richard Lovelady throws during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

Tampa Bay Rays' Curtis Mead, left, congratulates teammate Brandon Lowe after Lowe hit a two-run home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has abruptly fired the director of the National Security Agency, according to U.S. officials and members of Congress, but the White House and the Pentagon have provided no reasons for the move.

Senior military leaders were informed Thursday of the firing of Air Force Gen. Tim Haugh, who also oversaw the Pentagon’s Cyber Command, the officials said. They received no advance notice about the decision to remove a four-star general with a 33-year career in intelligence and cyber operations, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel decisions.

The move has triggered sharp criticism from members of Congress. And it marks the latest dismissal of national security officials by Trump at a time when his Republican administration faces criticism over his failure to take any action against other key leaders' use of the Signal messaging app to discuss plans for a military strike. It's unclear who now is in charge of the NSA and the Cyber Command.

Also fired was Haugh's civilian deputy at the NSA, Wendy Noble.

The NSA notified congressional leadership and top lawmakers of the national security committees of the firing late Wednesday but did not give reasons, according to a person familiar with the situation who insisted on anonymity to discuss the matter.

The White House did not respond to messages seeking comment. The NSA referred questions about Haugh to the Defense Department, which had no comment Friday.

Far-right activist and commentator Laura Loomer appeared to take credit Friday in a post on X, saying she raised concerns to Trump about Haugh’s ties to Gen. Mark Milley and the Biden administration and questioned the NSA chief's loyalty to the president. Milley served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Trump’s first term but has since become an outspoken critic.

“Given the fact that the NSA is arguably the most powerful intel agency in the world, we cannot allow for a Biden nominee to hold that position,” Loomer wrote. “Thank you President Trump for being receptive to the vetting materials provided to you and thank you for firing these Biden holdovers.”

Loomer, who has claimed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were an “inside job,” had discussed staff loyalty with Trump in an Oval Office meeting Wednesday, according to several people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive personnel manner. A day later, Trump said he fired “some” White House National Security Council officials.

Sen. Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, said Friday that he has “long warned about the dangers of firing military officers as a political loyalty test.”

"In addition to the other military leaders and national security officials Trump has fired, he is sending a chilling message throughout the ranks: don’t give your best military advice, or you may face consequences,” Reed said in a statement.

He added that Trump “has given a priceless gift to China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea by purging competence from our national security leadership.”

Another Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the U.S. was “facing unprecedented cyber threats” and asked how firing Haugh, who has served in the military for 30 years, makes American safer.

Trump hasn't commented on Haugh or Noble, but on Thursday he dismissed the National Security Council firings as normal.

“Always we’re letting go of people,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he made his way to Miami on Thursday afternoon. “People that we don’t like or people that we don’t think can do the job or people that may have loyalties to somebody else.”

The firings come as Trump's national security adviser, Mike Waltz, fights calls for his ouster after using the publicly available encrypted Signal app to discuss planning for a sensitive March 15 military operation targeting Houthi militants in Yemen.

Warner called it “astonishing” that Trump "would fire the nonpartisan, experienced leader of the National Security Agency while still failing to hold any member of his team accountable for leaking classified information on a commercial messaging app — even as he apparently takes staffing direction on national security from a discredited conspiracy theorist in the Oval Office.”

Haugh met last month with Elon Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency has roiled the federal government by slashing personnel and budgets at dozens of agencies. In a statement, the NSA said the meeting was intended to ensure both organizations are “aligned” with the new administration’s priorities.

Haugh had led both the NSA and Cyber Command since 2023. Both departments play leading roles in the nation’s cybersecurity. The NSA also supports the military and other national security agencies by collecting and analyzing a vast amount of data and information globally.

Cyber Command is known as America’s first line of defense in cyberspace and also plans offensive cyberoperations for potential use against adversaries.

Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Matthew Lee, Aamer Madhani, Zeke Miller, David Klepper and Lou Kesten in Washington contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump, center, arrives on Air Force One at Miami International Airport, Thursday, April 3, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)